Azhar Ali: Pakistan's ODI future bright

Omnisports

September 1, 2016 6:14 AM

Azhar Ali may have seen his Pakistan side lose the ODI series to England 4-1, but he is confident of a bright future for the team.

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Pakistan captain Azhar Ali believes the team's future prospects in one-day cricket are bright after they avoided a series whitewash against England on Sunday.

England had already wrapped up a resounding victory by winning each of the first four contests, but Pakistan earned a consolation win thanks to a four-wicket triumph in Cardiff.

A 163-run stand from Sarfraz Ahmed (90) and Shoaib Malik (77) was crucial in chasing down a 303 target, and Azhar believes that with several youngsters coming through Pakistan can improve in the 50-over format if they show more consistency.

"We wanted to finish on a high, we've had a tough tour, congratulations to England," he said at the post-match presentation.

"It was a much-needed victory and chasing 300 gave us much satisfaction. We didn't bowl well to start with but we held it back to a total that was reachable.

"We have a few youngsters coming in, there are a lot of positive signs, we just need to play good cricket consistently."

Sarfraz, who finished as the highest scorer in the series, was delighted to end on a winning note and says his game plan was to go after England's spinning all-round debutant Liam Dawson.

"I'm really happy the team performed as it's been a tough series," he added "The coach [Mickey Arthur] and captain told us if we played positively we had nothing to lose.

"We needed a partnership, we knew he [Dawson] was playing his first match so that's why we tried to play positively."

Omnisports

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